Heroes Die
by Seifer Almasy 911
Summary: When Claire Redfield calls for Annie Coen, and is greeted instead by Carter Kingston and his brother Atticus, an unlikely team is formed. Watch them fight for their lives in Umbrella's most twisted plot yet, and discover, somtimes, Heroes Die... Collab
1. Chapter 1

A/N : A collaboration between Umbrella's Worst Enemy and Seifer Almasy 911, the apacolypse is upon us. Run far, run fast, after reading and reviewing of course.

_**Heroes Die**_

Carter wrapped a black bandana firmly around his head before tying it. Satisfied with his look, black t-shirt reading 98.5 WNCX Cleveland's Classic Rock in big red letters, dark blue jeans, and a black bandana the EX-Marine  
sighed heavily and left the mess that was his room.

He'd recently moved in and the place was littered with boxes waiting to be unpacked but some how he'd managed to get his room messy already. It was a wonder what high amounts of stress and laziness could do when mixed together  
in a weird cocktail of sorts.

"Shit." He shook his head, "I've got to find a permanent place."

He had to admit, though, at least he'd moved here of his own volition. The last few times were due to... less than desirable circumstances.

And with that he grabbed his knife he'd left on the counter yesterday from when he'd descided to put off unpacking and opened a box to start putting  
every thing in it's place.

'_ At least things are looking up '_

He sighed and got to work after all it would take a while to get settled in.

Atticus pulled over in the small asphalt parking lot of the rather large government run building and killed the engine. Sighing slightly he glanced in the mirrior making sure one last time he looked half-decent and got out, jamming his keys into his pocket.

_' Pain in the ass court, set me up with a stupid ass PO, AND they make me go to AA meetings, wonderful. This'll be fun. '_

At least he was getting his life in order, was somewhat sober, and had his head on straight again. It could've been worse, much worse and he had to be thankful that something in life was going right.

_'Here goes nothing'_

And with that Atticus stepped into the office.

A few minutes later and Atticus walked out of his parole officer's office, his next destination not back home, nor was it work. He sat down and inserted his keys into the ignition and started the car again.

"Rehab, pfff, like that'll change anything." Atticus said to himself, "But it's better than prison."

_Pretty soon, I'll OD on Daughtry and Green Tea. Seriously. I need to get a life._

All her life, Annie Coen had held the position of 'protector'. Even as a little girl, she stood up for her older brother when things got too tough. This ideal, being the Guardian Angel... well, to be frank – it sucked. Something she really hadn't taken into account was the fact that it was hard to be a Guardian Angel, and a rolling stone, at the same time.

_Can't do both. I've got to pick. Be a Mom, or run away._

Sherry was old enough to be on her own, but what about Billy? Most of the people who appeared at their door were criminals in their own right, or too drunk to notice. He was safe, but he couldn't be the face of the operation. They needed a front, and Twenty-Six-Year-Old Ex-Mill Annie Coen was perfect. Her appearance, with the help of hair dye and contacts, was nothing out of the ordinary, and everyone who was alive to speak to gave her a sparkling recommendation.

_Of course, that was before the zombies, and the mutating, and the crazy killing spree, and Wesker, and... _

Annie chuckled.

Alright, so she wasn't exactly normal, but it was an enjoyable life.

Could be worse.

She could be dead.

"Sherry?" "Mmm?" "If I left, what would you do?" Sherry turned, staring. "I don't know." "Could you keep going to school?" "I guess so, yeah, but-" Anne had already left, heading towards Billy's room.

"The Kingstons."

"Hm?"

"You mentioned them, once. When you were still in the Marines. You were friends?"

"Friendly."

"How friendly?"

"If you're going to make some Navy joke, Annie, I swear."

"Not like that. I need to get lost for a little while. It might just be the virus, but I've been…. Restless, lately."

"So, you want Atticus and Carter to baby-sit me?"

"Pretty much."

"Why are you leaving?"

"Why did you leave?"

Billy gave her a serious look.

"Things got tough at home. You remember that."

"I do. Clearly. But this is… as bad as that was. I'm twenty-six, and I've been protecting and obeying, my whole life. I was thinking about doing the Rollin stone bit for a while, and I need to get my ducks in a row, before I do."

"So you think they're mature enough to make sure your life doesn't fall apart?"

"Well, why not?"

Anne was nothing short of puzzled, listening to her brother's hysterical laughter as she headed down the hall to get her phone.

Carter hung up his phone, wondering how anyone ever managed to track him down. Other than the short paper trail he left behind in life no one would ever be able to tell he even existed. He'd moved around, and lately he'd done  
so a lot, kept his number unlisted, did everything he possibly could without signing his name.

Cable?

Illegal.

Car?

Under a different name.

House?

Under the same name as his car.

He'd stopped using his own name for his places a while back when he'd decided to disappear for a while and never bothered to resume using his name.

The only way you'd ever have known he existed was to have met him in person, seen his birth, hospital, military and arrest record. That was all that proved he existed, all that kept him from completely disappearing off the face of the  
earth.

_Billy, heh, wonder if he still has a mullet._

The fact that a supposedly dead man's sister had just called him, and asked, told him actually, to come over really didn't bother him odd as it may sound.

Maybe he was just shocked, or suprised but he didn't feel it.

"Wonder what the bastards been up to." Carter said to himself picking up his phone again and dialing Atticus' number.

"Yo, bitch."

"Did Annie just ca-"

"Yup."

"You as weirded out as m-"

"Yup."

"You going?"

"Depends. You dragging me along?"

"Only if it'll piss you off."

"Fuck you."

"No thanks."

The door opened slowly to reveal a person who looked not unlike that of what Billy had described years before in the jungles of Africa.

Annie's eyes quickly scanned over the two. They looked just as Billy described, tall, blonde, similar in appearance and easily identified as relatives if not siblings, and one even wore a bandana as Billy had said theyoften did.

Her gaze flew by Atticus' eyes and for a brief second Annie thought she was seeing things but another second-long glance revealed that she wasn't. His left eye was indeed a paler emerald than the right.

_I'll have to ask about that _

"Atticus, Carter?" Annie looked from the elder's set of fierce green eyes to the junior's icy yet oddly softer blue eyes.

Carter half-nodded,

"Yup."

"C'mon in," Annie shut the door behind them and hollered for Billy.

"Coming!"

Not a minute later Billy appeared sporting a similar look to that he had years before, same thick, greasy slicked back black hair, a plain t-shirt and tight jeans.

"Holy shit," Atticus shook his head in disbelief, "That possum, it's still on your head."

"Oh hardy-freakin'-har, another hair joke. A bad one at that."

"I must've been a comedian in the past life."

Carter just chuckled and Annie displayed a face that read "I'm leaving Billy in the hands of THESE TWO?"

"You two can swoon over each other later, we've got more important things to take care of." Annie interrupted the six + year reunion.

"Right." Billy agreed.

"So, you two in or what?"

Carter glanced at Atticus, brow raised slightly.

"Yeah," Atticus answered,

"Sure. I'm screwed if we get caught but hey, who cares about that? I never thought about the consequences before why start now?"

"Good." Annie stated,

"The sooner you can get him out of here the better."

Annie headed into the kitchen, and started hitting her head on the cupboard, unaware that Billy was watching her.

"Uh…"

"Walk away." She advised, rubbing her forehead.

"Was planning to." Billy nodded, before pulling a few beers from the fridge.

"You coming back in?"

"No. Gotta pack. I'm off, I was thinking, jeez, I don't know. Maybe I'll just drive a lot."

She looked over at Billy, just as he disappeared into the living room. The sound of laughter was easily heard, and for a minute, Annie doubted her decision.

_This is working out, damnit. You can have a life for once. _

She made her way to her room, tentatively nostalgic the whole way. Sherry's drawings, family pictures, letters from various friends, all scattered around the room she slept, hid in, and not much else. A single bed was pushed against one wall, and on the bed, a suitcase.

With a heavy sigh, she started throwing clothes into it. This wasn't an overnight trip. Everything that was important to her had to go into this bag, everything about her, she had to load up and carry.

Déjà vu.

It took her a half an hour. When she got out of that room, closing the door almost silently behind her, she was starting to feel better. She had changed, weather this was really symbolic and deep, shedding an old skin, or that she just looked better in black jeans and a red halter top, her hair combed, than her stained jean and kitten sweater, her hair resembling Kayako Sakei. There was laughter echoing from the living room, the past relived thanks to a bottle of beer, or four.

With a smile, Annie headed for the stairs, waving, calling 'See y'all later!', when the phone rang.

"You gonna get that?" Carter asked, finishing off a bottle of beer.

"You live here, now." Anne shook her head, smiling sadly.

Carter shrugged, and picked up the phone.

"Yeah?"

There was a period of perfect silence, before he cut his eyes to Annie again.

"You know Claire Redfield?"


	2. Chapter 2

_There was a period of perfect silence, before he cut his eyes to Annie again._

"You know Claire Redfield?"

"Yeah. What's up?"

Carter went silent, listening to Claire before he hung up.

"She wants you to go help them with something," Carter informed her, "Something with Umbrella."

Annie's face contorted into a mask of disappointment, anger, frustration and overall defiance, "No." She shook her head.

"Uh, don't tell me. I'm not the one looking for ya."

"Shuddit."

"Nuh uh. Don't even start, I'm not the problem here. Hell, we were willing to help you."

Annie sighed heavily in resignation. He had a point, Atticus had just gotten out of court and was on a tight leash which was stretched just about as far as it could go without snapping, and Carter had agreed to risk getting caught helping Billy, which would no doubt hinder him from keeping his own life in order as easily as without the added task.

"Billy."

"Yeah?"

"You're going to have to disappear, as in, completely. Sherry can keep going to school. You two," She eyed the Kingstons, "I need one more favor."

"You've already had us commit a felony, not much more you can ask of us." Atticus said.

"Go in place of me." She said with an upward inflection indicating a question not quite posed as one.

"Hell no." Atticus' reply came so fast that he probably hadn't even let the words Annie had spoken register in his mind, "I'm done with them, my fight's over."

"Really now? So you're over the fact that you had to kill for their own sick game?" Annie asked, folding her arms across her chest, head cocked to one side slightly, "Or is this just some of that macho Marine bullshit?"

"Nah, my conscience is clean. I killed people for little to no reason back in the Corps, a few more that weren't really human don't make a difference."

"Excuses."

"And what about you, Ms. High-N'-Mighty? I speak from experience when I say running away doesn't work."

Annie rolled her eyes, "Don't change the subject. That's besides the point. You have blood on your hands, you can't let that go until they're gone."

"I let go a long time ago, trust me. IT'."

"You two..."

"Yes?" They both looked at Billy who pinched the bridge of his nose, Carter sat silently and watched the exchange looking somewhat amused.

"Need to shut up. We'll... figure something out."

"You do that, I'm going out. I need something hard to drink."

"Who's running now?" Annie asked.

"Shut up, enjoy being young, having something that can pass as a family and whatever else it is old people give as advice. And I'm not running, this isn't my problem. I settled the score. If you want to fight, by all means, waste your life. People like Umbrella will always be around."

"And people like us will always fight."

"No. People like YOU will fight." Atticus got up, "Look, I'm not telling you what to do, I honestly don't care but I just don't want to have you come back and have to listen to your bitching about how nothing turned out as you expected."

"Does no one listen to me?" Billy asked.

"No." Annie and Atticus chimed in unison.

"Apparently not." Carter grinned, "Keep trying, you'll get through to at least one of them."

"Excuse me," Everyone looked to the stairs to find Sherry who'd just appeared from upstairs, "But could you all please shut up, I can't read. Thanks."

Sherry disappeared up the stairs and everyone sat in silence for a few seconds.

"I blame this on you," Billy looked at Annie, "You're a bad influence."

---

"It would seem Ms. Redfield and her bothersome friends are at it again," Wesker ran through files on his computer simultaneously speaking with his subordinate, "Send them a message. Let them know I'm ready and willing to end things once and for all."

"This should be... fun. Very, very fun."

Wesker cut off the link leaving himself to his thoughts, scrolling through pages and programs on the screen in front of him.

--

Annie continued arguing with Atticus, neither of them giving an inch.

"Why wont you go? You think any of this can change, get better, if you don't?"

"Look, I've gotten over the outbreak. I have bigger problems."

"Have you gone past any of them?"

Atticus's reply was drowned out by the sound of gunfire. Annie, almost by instinct, took off out the door, fists up to guard her face, she paused, looked around, and walked back into the house. She turned to face Atticus, standing in the doorway. She gave a half-hearted shrug and looked around. There was a corpse beside the house, and the big glass window that revealed their business had been shattered. Different part of the wall looked like they had been ripped did I piss off this time?

Annie stepped outside further, and made her way over to the corpse. Her breath caught in her throat as she looked down.

"You're not going to go against an army for me?" She turned around, her eyes still trained on the pale, bloodied body of Steve Burnside.

"I get that." She finally raised her eyes.

"But if either of you give a shit about Claire, you'll help me."

She glanced at the bloody carving in Steve's chest.

**Where it all began.**

**Where everything ends.**

"Who's ready for a road trip?"

--

Annie slid into the car and flicked on the radio, tapping her thumbs on the steering wheel. She stayed silent as Atticus sat down beside her, and Carter in the back seat.

Silent, that is, until Atticus reached over and changed the station. She glared at him, and flicked it back.

**You stumbled in and bumped your head, if not for me-**

**Face of an angel with the love of a witch, back off, back off bitch-**

**If I go crazy then will you still-**

**Cheap heartbreaker, broken-**

Annie slapped his fingers.

"Look, Atticus. You're my brothers friend. You're Claire's friend. But if you touch my radio, I kick your ass."

"You're kidding."

"You smell funny."

There was a good minute of silence, as Axl Rose screamed in the background, before Atticus broke the silence.

"Did you just say that?"

"Fuck you."

"Fuck you too."

Carter just sighed, and let his head fall back against the seat. This is going to be a long car ride...

---

"Dont do that."

Atticus looked over at her, in the middle of lighting a cigarette.

"Why not?"

"The smoke, its not good to have in the car. I learned that, taking care of Sherry."

Atticus looked to his left.

Right.

Twisted around to see behind him.

"Nope. No Sherry."

Annie groaned as he lit it, took a drag, and blew the smoke at her, just to piss her off.

In one swift moment, she grabbed the cigarette and threw it out the window.

"I'm trying to quit. Light another one, and your hair goes up."

Some time later the mild arguement, and exchange of insults had ended.

Silence and the sound of the station's DJ's voice filled the interior of Annie's car. It stayed that way for a couple of minutes before Annie finally spoke up.

"So, what's with the eye?"

"You noticed?"

"Uh, yeah."

Atticus shrugged, "It's not that obvious."

"I'm observant. Tell."

"War wound. Changed the color for some reason."

"You have a dead eye?"

"Yup."

"Wicked." Annie grinned at her thought,

"You should wear an eye patch! Pirates kick ass."

"..."

"...Pirates kick ass."

"You're weird."

Annie glanced at the rear view mirror, "Shuddit."

"Make me."

"I will."

"Okay."

Silence.

Carter began rythmically kicking Annie's seat. This continued for a good long minute, and stopped right around when she reached under her seat, unlocked the chair, and pushed back as hard as she could slamming it into him.

"Shit!"

Atticus laughed, not bothering to say anything. Carter reached around Annie's seat and smacked her upside the head as she scooted back up.

"Asshole."

"Takes one to know one." Carter shrugged.

The car fell silent again a couple of minutes, Annie begining to glance over at Atticus at random intervals, something neither he nor Carter noticed. This went on for a minute or so before she finally shot a hand out and smacked Atticus.

"What the hell was that for?" Atticus asked, his voice an octave higher than before, already knowing the answer.

Annie slouched and sank into her seat a little and shrugged, "I just had to."

"Well, now you know."

"Yup."

"Should've seen that coming."

"Yup."

"You guys are weird." Carter piped up.

"And you don't talk. You're weird."

"Eccentric."

"Weird."

"Not as weird."

"Weird."

"Shut up."

"...So... How'd that happen?"

"Muzzle flash."

"Ah."

"Yup."

With the stereo finally set on 'Heroes Die' and the two sides of the argument finally silenced, the car pulled up in front of a garage.

"The song is lame."

"It was that or Sherry's old Disney CD."

"I might've just taken my chances."

"You wanna listen to creepy-kiddie voices for four hours, I'll be sure to put it on when we leave."

"I'm not leaving with you."

"Thank god. A girl can only take so much BS."

Annie got out of the car, and rummaged around in her pocket for a pack of cigarettes. She'd been trying to quit, but something told her she'd be needing them a LOT more.

"Hyprocite."

"You'd drive me to drink, but I dont have a bottle."

She pushed through the door, and was greeted, not by Claire, who she had come to enjoy the idea of seeing again.

No.

That would've been too easy.

"What the fuck are you doing here, Rookie?"

"Tell me that's not sex related."

Annie whirled around ready to sock Carter in the nose, if it'd been Atticus she would've,

"As a matter of fact, it isn't."

"Hey." Carter backed away, palms up,

"Just asking."

"Don't."

"That's not good for your blood pressure."

"Shove it, Atticus."

"Oh, she's a lovely one. Why didn't we meet her earlier?" Atticus rolled his eyes following Annie in.

"How ya doin', Rookie?" Carter grinned.

"Not funny."

"Oh, you're so mean."

Annie disappeared further into the house, Atticus following not far behind her leaving Carter and Leon to themselves.

"You two must be rubbing off on me."

"Ouch." Carter clawed at his chest, grasping his heart, "You've hurt me."

"Not funny."

Carter shrugged and walked into the living room where he found everyone had been waiting. Atticus and Annie appeared to have been seperated, most likely out of necessity. The two exchanged hostile glares passed Chris and Rebecca who sat between the two.

"Wonderful. A reunion."

"Still not funny."

"No one asked you."

"Uh, Chris." Rebecca looked at Annie who was glaring passed through her at Atticus.

"They'll be fine."

Atticus lit a cigarette and blew the smoke passed Chris, clear over Rebcca and straight into Annie's face.

"Asshole."

"Sure am."

"Right, you two need to stop." Claire said.

Atticus shrugged and took a drag and blew it out looking around the room, the occupants all seeming to be looking at him.

"What?"

"I'd load you down with pamphlets and NicoDerm if I had any on me."

"Shuddit Chambers."

"Well, this is lovely."

Annie looked at Carter,

"I liked you more when you were quiet."

"I liked you more when I could see your ass, your point?"

"Pervert." Annie said flatly.

"I prefer... sexual deviant."

Annie groaned, "I just HAD to call you two."

"At least I'm easy on the eyes."

"No, Carter. Just. NO."

"C'mon, you know you dig the eyes."

"Fuck off."

"Keep denying it if you have to."

"Enough." Claire sighed,

"Sherry was more mature back when I first met her."

"Not fair. One, she's a genius, two SHE'S A GENIUS."

"That's the same thing..." Annie pointed out.

"It's the only thing."

"She can draw, and paint."

"Shuddap."

"You got anything to add, or are you on mute again?"

Carter flipped her off, "So, what're we here for? To stare at each other and listen to them argue?"

"Right." Claire nodded, "You already know Umbrella's back to their usual thing."

"Throwing Steve through windows?" Atticus raised an eyebrow

Everyone went silent for a moment, Atticus silently taking drags and blowing out clouds of smoke occasionally. Annie glared at Atticus, who was either oblivious or just plain didn't give a shit.

Claire kept her composure and continued, "They're going to be coming after us, sending messages like this. We have to stick together for our safety, and to take them down."

"Great." Carter sighed,

"I thought were done with this. That we were out."

"We're never out." Chris pointed out, "We never will be. Not until this is over."

"My Chris, you're awfully depressing."

"You guys are rubbing off on all of us."

"C'mon, I'm a blast and you know it.":

"Anyway," Claire interrupted before they could go any further, "You apparently already know about Steve going missing. Now you know about Umbrella. One last thing... Wesker's not dead"

"What, didja hit your head?" Annie snorted, "You know as well as I do. He's as dead as a doorknob."

Claire shook her head, "No... He's not."

Annie's face went blank, "God damn it."

"Yeah. What she said." Carter sighed, "This sucks. This reall, really sucks."

"To put it mildly." Annie nodded in agreement.

"So, what now?" Atticus blinked, "I mean, we just go storming in, shooting up random shit after we find them?"

"Basically, yeah." Chris nodded.

Claire nodded, "Take as many of them alive as possible, destroy their experiments, secure any and all documents, and destroy the place."

"That's the usual procedure." Chris nodded.

"Usual?"

Chris looked at Atticus,

"Well, yeah, sometimes there's a complication or two..."

"I see..."

"You in?" Claire asked.

"Sure." Annie sighed.

"Yeah. Sure. I guess."

Everyone directed their attention to Atticus.

"What? I'm on parole."

"I can handle that." Leon piped up, "And I'll take care of those AA meetings, too."

"I knew there was a reason I kept you around." Atticus smirked.

"You'll have to go back once this is all over."

"Damn."

"Yeah, sorry. I don't have that much pull, and I wouldn't do that for you anyway."

"Wait, so you're getting him outta that, but you won't even bail me out when I get arrested?" Annie asked.

"Nope."

"You suck."

---

Annie stuffed the wad of gum she had been chewing back into the little mint tin she carried, and looked out at the sky.

Night watch was solitary, peaceful.

She could think things through, contemplate life...

What'll happen to me, once we take down Umbrella? How long do I have before this mutation turns me bad?

Her spot on the roof was a vantage point, and a good one at that. The lights of the city flickered in front of her, a thousand little pinpricks of life, reassuring her...

"You know, Ed Gein did that." Carter pointed to the mint tin as he settled himself down.

"Why d'ya think I do it?"

Silence.

"You get suckered into this, too?"

"Yeah."

"Go get some sleep, I'll cover for you." Annie smiled.

Carter shrugged, and started back down.

"Suit yourself."

"I plan to."


	3. Chapter 3

"Son of a BITCH!"

Atticus jolted awake, freezing cold. Annie was standing above him, empty bucket in hand.

"I called your name at least twenty times. This was all I had left up my sleeve. Breakfast is in ten minutes, and then we've got a meeting, to plan our little raid. I'd change." Annie smirked, heading out of the room.

"She whispered it." Carter informed him, looking at him from across the room.

"..."

"She's right, though. You're gonna want to change."

"I'll do whatever the hell I want to."

Carter shrugged, "Suit yourself. I'm getting something to eat before she decides to throw it out or some shit, and cite us being late as the reason."

"Okay." Atticus pulled his shirt over his head.

Annie had been headed back down the hall, towards the bathroom, and stopped dead at the sight of Atticus.

She blinked, "Close the door, man."

"We all know you did that just so you can watch me change." Atticus grinned, "Admit it."

Annie rolled her eyes, "Ugh. Pigs."

Annie flipped him off and went into the bathroom. Atticus shrugged and grabbed a new shirt and slipped it on. Carter shook his head.

"What?"

"You guys are annoying."

"...You're stupid."

Jill looked up at the Kingstons briefly as they entered the kitchen before going back to the book that sat in front of her, pencil in one hand, coffee in the other.

"Hey, Rebecca..."

"Hmm?"

"What's a five letter word for..."

Atticus had drifted into the living room no longer able to clearly make out what was being said in Jill and Rebecca's exchange, joining Leon and Chris in waiting for breakfast. Carter on the other hand had remained in the kitchen an let out a long yawn.

"Tired?"

Carter shrugged, "Not really, actually."

"Well, don't fall asleep. I wouldn't want Annie to dump a bucket of ice water on you too."

"Aww, I love you too."

Claire rolled her eyes and shook her head as she went back to preparing breakfast for her various guests. Annie chose that moment to join all the occupants of the kitchen. Wordlessly she opened the fridge, looked around for a bit and extracted a carton of orange juice, pouring herself a glass she sat down.

"So..."

"Hmm?"

"Dunno. Too quite."

Carter shrugged, "Got a deck of cards?"

A deck of cards fell on the table in front of them and Carter looked in the direction they'd come from.

"Thanks."

Rebecca shrugged, "Solitaire keeps me busy."

Carter grabbed the deck and started laying out card's as he spoke.

"So, what exactly are we gonna do? I mean we've got the exAir Force pilot turned cop who got fired, the exArmy chick turned cop who got fired, a nerd, a college student, Rookie, two exMarines and Annie. Whatever she is. Oh, right, ugly."

"How witty." Annie rolled her eyes.

"Aren't I?"

He paused before adding, "And if Billy gets involved that three exMarines. We're still pretty fucked."

"Pretty much." Annie admitted.

"You guys are depressing... and I'm not a nerd."

"Of course you are, shorty." Carter grinned, "Never said it was a bad thing."

"You hit on everything you come across?" Annie blinked.

"Nope. I'm usually making fun of them they just misinterpret it."

"..."

"Part of the charm."

"...Right."

Carter shrugged and went back to the cards spread out on the table before him, occasionally moving one from it's spot to another.

Jill and Rebecca kept working on the crossword Jill had started along with whatever conversation had come up, Claire occasionally chipping in as well as Annie, Carter mostly kept to himself.

A few minutes later Claire left and went into the living room to gather the missing components of their group for their meal.

Had Annie checked her dignity at the door, she would be pinching Atticus under the table.

She was a grown woman, not a junior high school student...

She was kicking him.

Not like she could pinch him anyways, he was across from her, and one person to the left.

Chris was getting the brunt of most of the blows, and he was obviously very, very, unhappy with her.

It was his choice...

The look Leon was giving her was just classic. A mix of dissapointment and disgust, usually worn by either Billy, or her mother. With nothing else to do, she stuck out her tongue.

"Jealous of the attention he's getting?" She raised an eyebrow.

"Naw, he's just seeing you in full light."

"Go drink bleach."

"You first, you can tell me how it tastes."

"I'm sure after spending all this time with you, I'll be a motherfucking conissuer."

Carter, who had been picking at a gooey, half-baked pancake, suddenly snapped to attention.

"Who's a what?"

Annie just blinked, and started rummaging around in her coat pocket, trying to find her flask.

"I should've killed myself years ago."

"You know, I have a revolver on me, I could probably help you out, there."

"Ah, but then we'd have to end this witty conversation, and what fun would that be?"

"It'd be more fun for all of us." Leon muttered.

Annie looked over at him, narrowing her eyes.

"So, because I dont want you, you want me dead? Jeez, Rookie, you've got a mean streak."

"I almost like him for it."

Annie glared at him, hand stuck in her coat's inside pocket. She blinked and held it open, looking inside. Then the other pocket. And the next.

"What the hell?"

"Missing something?"

Annie looked up in time to see Carter drinking from her flask. Shouting a short string of curses Annie practically dove out of her chair, only to stop mid flight, Claire's hand gripping her shirt.

Annie gave up and sat back down, arms folded across her chest, glaring at Carter. Everyone quietly went back to their meals, Carter chuckling to himself as he continued drinking from Annie's flask.

"Thanks, I forgot mine."

"Get bent."

Carter shrugged and began chugging the last of the small metal container's contents. Annie cursed again and flew out of her seat once again. This time Claire was too late, she headed straight for Carter...

And ran into Rebecca. They tumbled over her seat and slammed into the floor at Carter's feet, as he stood and laughed, drinking from Annie's flask yet again as she rose from the floor. Annie quickly rose to her knees and promptly punched Carter in the gut just as he tossed the flask to Atticus. Claire and Leon quickly went to work stopping the fight that was bound to happen, forcing Annie and Carter to seperate, and Atticus to return her flask.

"Finally, Rookie's good for something." Annie muttering, cursing yet again as she tipped over the flask, and found it empty.

"The next time you do something like that, you're going to get a bloody pike up your ass!"

Carter opened his mouth to say something, but Leon cut him off.

"She's really done it."

The mood at the meeting was pretty... chaotic...

No one had really taken to listening to Leon's instructions, or Chris's, so finally, Claire took charge.

"Alright, spit out the gum, drop the word search, no picking your nose, no kicking, and for fuck's sake, Annie, turn off the computer!"

Annie pulled out her ear buds, and quickly closed the laptop.

"Sorry."

Carter was, for Claire's (And his own...) sake, trying to hold back his laughter, when Annie hissed:

"That gum looks great in your hand, jerk."

Carter leaned forward and pressed it into her bangs.

"I think it looks a lot better there."

"Oh, that's IT."

The meeting when on calmly while the two of them rolled around on the floor, throwing punches. A simple plan was drafted, the group would stay together at all costs, and stick to the map. If something went wrong, they would retreat and plan for another mission. Claire handed out tightly folded pieces of paper, maps of the facility.

Cautiously, she tapped her foot against the two group members on the floor, who momentarily stopped to look at her.

"We're done."

"... Really?"

Claire nodded.

Slowly, the two of them stood up, brushing themselves off.

"Hey..." Carter narrowed his eyes, staring at Annie. She raised a hand to her nose, and her heart stopped cold. A slick of ice trailed down from her nose to her upper lip.

"What the fuck is that?"

Annie looked from Leon, to Claire, to Carter, trying to dig into her brain, to figure out something to say... anything to say...

"Guess you know what Annie is, huh?"

"I hate outfitting. These pants always ride up my ass..." Carter muttered.

"Oh, shut up." Annie snorted, sticking a pair of ear buds into her ears and cranking up the volume.

"What the hell are you doing?"

"Drowning out the sound of gunfire and morons."

They had started out in the blistering heat, the humidity of the jungle wearing down on them. It was worse, now that they had to carry all of their supplies on their bodies. Apparently, no one had uttered the phrase 'travel light' in a while. Leon waved them forward and started walking, and Annie's eyes slid involuntarily downward.

"Subtle."

"Oh, shut up Blondie... you know, those pants really don't do him justice." Annie grinned, determined to turn the tables and make him as uncomfortable as possible.

"I'm sure..." Carter raised an eyebrow.

"Oh, but its true. He looks way better in jeans. He bought this great pair, right after the outbreak... good times... Not to mention the hotel stay when he walked around in boxers for two hours because he thought I was asleep."

"..."

"What? You started the conversation!"

Carter just shook his head and sped up, appearently not about to bothering countering something like that.

"Come on, dude!" Annie quickened her pace.

"Did you just call me dude?"

"Yes... why?"

"Just checking."

Annie kind of gave up at that point. She fell to the back of the group and sighed, obviously irritated.

_Fuck, this is totally like last time._

Almost immediately, the temperature in area dropped several degrees. The group trudged on, determined to keep going no matter what was thrown at them, but the distinctive sound of several groans could be heard as it grew colder and colder.

Atticus pulled a water bottle from his pack, and found that it was frozen solid.

"Oh, come on... you think this is Umbrella?"

"Controlling the weather?" Claire rolled her eyes.

"Just toughen up, things can get crazy in places like this."

"Uh, not this crazy, this fast." Atticus protested, pulling his bag back on.

"Well, then, maybe Umbrella has turned this place into a fridge."

"Fuck you."

The others attempted to tune the argument out as they trudged on, but it only got colder. Only a few minutes ago it had been scorching hot, and now they were in danger of frostbite. Annie flipped up the soft, felt lined hood she was wearing and tried to focus on the task at hand.

"Well... maybe we're getting close?" Rebecca piped up.

"That's gotta be it." Leon nodded in agreement.

"Okay, so what are we getting close to? Anyone think to find out what we're looking for?" Atticus grumbled.

"We'll know it when we-" Leon had fallen flat on his face. The group stayed motionless and blinking for a few moments, before Carter nudged the unconcious Leon aside, revealing a hatch.

"And once again, the Rookie is proven useful." Annie laughed.

After a short argument, Carter was saddled with carrying Leon. Now, he didnt volenteer, nor was he happy about it, and he made this clear by knocking Leon into everything possible as they climbed the icy stone staircase heading down into the base.

"You looking to give him brain damage?"

"He doesnt have quite enough, yet."

_Heh... hell frozen over._

Annie laughed to herself as she settled down on the floor. A quick break, to make sure they were ready to go again... and a chance for Leon to wake up.

_This cant be my fault, can it?_

She looked over her ghostly white hands, and sighed. After a moment's hesitation, she took out her contacts and tossed them across the hall.

"... That's really creepy."

"I know, Carter. It's just how it is, I have white eyes, oh well."

"I meant the loud laughter for no apparent reason."

"Sorry. Inside joke... the eyes don't scare you?"

"Well, they're pretty creepy." He admitted.

"But come on. We've both seen creepier."

"Yeah, we really have... Wait a second. Are you being nice?"

"Fluke."

"Yeah... I thought so..."

Annie pulled her hood down lower over her eyes, and pulled her knees up to her chest. Or tried to. She was wearing a rather bulky amount of clothing, and was feeling rather thankful for it, though not long ago it had been an incredibly uncomfortable burden.

"You think he'll be much longer waking up?"

"Naw... we have to get going, soon, and he wasn't hit that bad."

"Yeah..."

Annie closed her eyes for a moment, comforted by the knowledge that she could let her guard down with the others as alert as they were... And then she heard it. The distinct click of stilettos, the constant, rhythmic tick tock that she knew like her own heartbeat, that she could never forget.

As constant as time and death and the endless tides of some far-off beach, first soothing, then panic-worthy, and finally, Annie surrendered to the quiet indifference she knew would shelter her from the woman's tongue, and the words that rolled off of it.

"What did you do to him?" The soft, perpetually amused voice hit her ears despite the protective woolen hood.

"I didn't do shit, Ada."

She peered out from under her hood, not really wanting to see her old rival, but feeling oddly obligated. She was as beautiful as she had always been, dressed in crimson red. A single, spiny butterfly emblem covered the bodice of her tight, long dress, and a slit freed her legs for movement.

"Of course you didn't..." Annie could see Carter reaching for his hip holster out of the corner of her eye, and didn't do a thing to stop him. He wouldn't get a shot in, even if he ended up trying, that bitch was smoke.

"I didn't. He tripped and smacked his head." Annie was really wishing she had a cigarette. Really. She had a feeling she would've gone through a pack in a second. Instead, she reached for her pocket and ignored Ada's soft chuckle as she popped a piece of gum into her mouth and savored the burning peppermint taste.

"Somehow, I cant believe that..."

"Why don't you tell someone who cares, bitchcakes?"

"Someone's in a bad mood."

"Are you really fucking surprised? I'm sitting in a freezing fucking room, talking to the one person I hate most in the world-"

"Well, I certainly feel loved."

"Fuck off, Atticus."

"Sounds terrible." Ada was still smiling.

"Just go away." Annie mumbled, closing her eyes again. She was unconciously aware of Ada leaning down over Leon, and Carter raising his gun... And her predication had been correct.

"Just try not to drag him down with you."

"And what the hell is _that_ supposed to mean?"

"I'd just hate to see him fall apart alongside you."

Carter had kept slowly inching toward his holster, slow careful movement which Ada seemed not to notice. She was far too occupied with Annie. Carter firmly grasped the familiar grip of his Smith & Wesson 4506 practically ripping it out of the holster. His efforts were for nothing. Ada was already gone the way she'd been headed her back to him already.

"Always hated her." Carter watched as Ada disappeared from sight.

"Welcome to the club."

"Do I get a jacket?"

"You have to be initiated first."

"Damn, I was looking forward to a free jacket with patches on it."

"Sorry. Now get Rookie so we can get outta here."

"Get 'im yourself."

Annie squinted, glaring at Carter for a brief moment before bending over and grabbing Leon 's collar. She hefted him up off the ground shoving the unconscious Leon towards Carter.

"You're carrying him. You're our mule, now, be a good little ugly, smelly animal and carry him."

"I'm the smart, good looking one, I don't do labor."

"….." Annie blinked, paused again, and began laughing, "Oh, right, right. Of course."

She kept laughing to herself as she started the way they'd been heading before the group had stopped, shaking her head. Carter sighed and started after her dragging Leon along.

"Wasn't the point of stopping to wait for him to wake up?"

"No time."

Carter sighed and threw Leon into a fireman's carry before starting after Annie again, Leon thrown over his shoulders.

"Especially if we want to catch Ada before she disappears."

"You know we won't." Atticus pointed out, "No one ever does."

"I doubt she can outrun a bullet."

"You're going to get us all killed, shut up and pay attention." Jill demanded, a stern look on her face.

Atticus glanced over his shoulder, paused, and gave a mock salute, "Aye aye, cap'n."

Jill rolled her eyes and pushed passed him, "Keep talking like that and we'll get you an eye patch."

"HA! She thinks you should get one too."

"And I think you should drink a bleach-drain-o cocktail but you don't see me complaining."

"Get bent."

"Fu-"

"Quiet. Both of you." Chris snapped, "Jill's right."

"He started it."

Rebecca sighed, "Maybe she should've stayed with Billy…."

"We all know you'd like to have stayed with him." Annie muttered under her breath.

"Hmm?" Claire blinked.

"Nothing." Annie shook her head, "Nothing."

"Mind slowing down?"

"Yup."

"I hate you." Carter shifted Leon 's weight on his shoulders, "And I'm going to laugh when you walk right into a trap and get your legs torn off or something."

Annie shrugged and kept going with everyone else trailing not far behind. Eventually Annie had dropped back rejoining the group and keeping pace with Carter, Rebecca being the only one to speak, briefly, in an attempt to keep the silence from overwhelming them. It didn't help.

She didn't make any other attempts. Silence prevailed and that was that even if nobody liked it. Silence led to isolation, isolation led to despair in the mental sense, and usually ended in a lonely, bloody death in the physical sense. Neither were appealing but disturbingly possible. And nobody wanted that. Or even the silence, for all those came with it.

Carter was sure it was the mental part that he disliked the most, physical pain was temporary and he knew it better than anyone else, death's embrace took a firm, rough hold of you but it all goes away…. Mental anguish was something he just wouldn't escape. Something the he knew would be forced upon him, and something he knew to avoid as much as possible.

_Lot of good that does me, like they'll spare us any misery_

"Carter?"

"Hmm?" Carter blinked, looking at Rebecca beside him.

"You okay?"

"Of course."

Rebecca's timid, worried face quickly shifted into an uneasy smile. With that Carter turned his attention back in front of himself only to find Annie had dropped back to his other side.

She didn't say anything. Neither did he, just went back to his thoughts. Not for very long, though.

"Quit staring at Claire's ass."

"Quit telling me about how you want to have hot, sweaty sex with Leon every time you see him."

"C'mon, you're telling me you never just had the urge to take someone right then and there, on the counter, against the wall, in the car… well, you probably never have, but you've wanted to I'm sure."

"My sex life is plenty active, though there's something to be said about yours, you'd rather baby sit Billy than go out…."

"Hardy fuckin' har."

Carter grinned but didn't retort, his victory already sealed without a witty quip. That was that and Annie trotted off, contemplating some way or another to get back at him for this incident. And staying alive, of course. But mostly getting back at Carter.

Annie sighed, "Why'd I have to quit smoking? You guys are annoying."

And just then a dull thud sounded quickly followed by a second one as the pack of cigarettes bounced off of Annie's head and fell to the floor. Annie glared at Atticus and picked up the pack, looking the soft container over.

"Lucky Strikes? You suck."

"Shut up and smoke or give 'em back."

Annie grumbled something under her breath and pinched a cigarette between her lips dragging it out of the pack and practically threw the pack back at Atticus, who dug in his pocket for the lighter but Annie had simply went on without it. Again they were all left to themselves, continuing into whatever awaited them.

"When they kill you," Atticus looked at Annie, though she doubted he could see her on his left, she wasn't ahead of him which made it rather creepy knowing that the eye pointed at her was an empty void, "Try not to get blood on me. It's hard to get out."

"Just try not to die yourself."

"I'm not the one that'll have to worry about that." He smirked, "Just keep your head down, kid."

"Don't call me that." Annie pulled a face, "Pirate."

"Don't get your panties in a bunch. And stay alive, damn it."

Annie shrugged, unlit cigarette still dangling uselessly from her mouth. Carter mentally cursed the silence, Atticus still looked disturbed, and Rebecca looked rather concerned with the state of all of them. Annie was too calm and aloof, Atticus looked like he was ready to lose it, and Carter… Carter look preoccupied just as Atticus did, but with a morose look on his face. Something else was bothering the youngest Kingston brother.

She was once forced to resign herself to silence unable to make things any better, to help anyone. Odd for someone who specialized in medical matters and lived to help others. But to try and force anything out of any of them would only result in them telling her to committ various acts with herself. That was just going to be that, an overwhelming silence would hang over them just as surely as death awaited, neither of which was a very comforting thought.

No one else seemed to notice, they were all effected by the tension but none of them seemed to take notice of what was going on between the three and all three seemed to be in their own little world. Rebecca sighed cursing herself for being so observant.


	4. Chapter 4

Annie was fighting the urge to light her cigarette, when a tiny noise distracted her. She looked up, frowning at the mirrored ceiling.

"Anyone else hear that, or am I crazy?"

"You make this too easy…"

"Fuck off, Pirate." Annie snapped.

"Someone tall, try and touch the ceiling…"

Chris shrugged, and pressed the butt of his rifle to the glass.

"Shoot it."

"What?"

"NOW."

When Chris didn't do anything, Annie pulled a .32 calibre handgun from her

belt and fired into the roof herself, spraying them with glass, waking Leon, and sending a small white figure sprawling to the ground.

"The hell?" Atticus pulled out his own weapon, and Carter dropped Leon.

"Ow!"

"Fuck you!"

All attention was now focused on the compact-looking woman in the centre of

them all… A white suit let her almost blend in with the walls, and her hair,

the colour of blood and water, spiralled in curls around her shoulders.

"What is she?"

"What do you mean what?" Atticus snorted.

"Considering where we are, it's a fair-"

Whatever she was about to say in her defence, they'd never know. The tiny thing in the middle of the room let something fall to the floor, and in less than a second the hall was full of a thick, choking white smoke. Each group member felt something rip past them, and that was all they needed. A few coughed orders, and they were off, sprinting towards the faint glow that

showed them the exit.

"Fuck… crazy-ass bitch…." That was Carter, more than likely, but no one could be sure.

"If that shit's poisoned…" Annie whispered, reaching up to touch her throat.

The smoke continued to pour from the gaping doorway, as they walked away from the building.

"Next time, don't shoot the fucking ceiling." Atticus growled.

"If I hadn't, she'd have killed us with no warning!"

Atticus muttered something that made Annie's blood boil, but they all had worse problems. The redheaded whatever-she-was had thrown something sharp at all of them, most of them found their exposed flesh marked by tiny cuts, Leon had taken something right through the centre of his hand and was bleeding badly.

"Well, this is fun…"

---

Annie carefully dabbed at a cut on her cheek, staring at her reflection in the mirror.

"Fuck…" She figured that the goal was to send them the other way, fast, and to scare them and scar them, and hell, whatever it was that she was hit with was going to do a killer job at scarring her…

"You almost done?"

"Fuck off, Rookie." Annie called, pulling at one of the bandages on her

arm. Whatever warmth had managed to creep into her was gone now, with the pseudo-clotting her ice blood allowed her.

"Come on."

"When I say fuck off, I expect you to fuck off." Annie pulled a

recently-bought pack of Elyxers (The cheapest brand she could find for her

'Last Pack') out of her pocket and lit up, settling into the (Empty) tub for some quiet relaxation.

"What are you doing in there?"

"Making you nuts." Anne took a long puff, enjoying herself greatly.

She propped up her feet and let out an angry shriek as water poured down on her.

"Stupid fucking sensitive fucking dial!"

"Annie? You okay?"

"Fuck off!"

Leon pushed the door open, and stared.

"How are you in here?!"

"It's a pretty simple lock… What are you doing, exactly?"

"I was smoking, until this thing started…" Leon held out a hand to help her up, and Annie took it, shaking her hair out miserably.

"You're really cold. You okay?"

"I'm a mutant, remember? Hold on long enough, and our skin will stick together." Annie pulled her hand away, reaching for a towel to wipe at her hair, which was already frosting over.

"So you're like a cold sign post? Stick my tongue to you and it freezes there?"

"You planning on licking me?"

That stopped the conversation cold. After a moment, Annie started laughing and folded the towel back over it's silvery towel rack.

"It's not advisable." She wrapped an arm around his neck, pulled him down to her level, and kissed him. She nibbled on his lip, waited for him to relax his mouth, and slipped in her tongue. Leon made a surprised little noise as she pulled away, taking a tiny piece of skin with her.

"This is why you leave mutants alone when they tell you to fuck off."

She dropped her old cigarette in the toilet and walked from the room, lighting up a new one as she went. Leon just watched her go, swinging her long white hair and her jean-clad hips, dumbfounded and tasting blood.

"And stop staring at my ass!"

---

"You okay?"

Carter looked up from his heavily bandaged hand and nodded.

"But you're always welcome to help me lick my wounds if you want." He smirked.

Claire rolled her eyes, "It's impossible to be nice around you. Must you make everything difficult?"

"I'm not the one making anything difficult." Carter shrugged, opening and closing his hand a few times before muttering, "With any luck I'll still be able to make a fist."

"Echoes of Holden Caufield?" Jill suggested.

"Good book." Carter turned to look at her.

Jill nodded and stood up slowly, taking her cup of coffee with her. Carter watched her disappear from the kitchen and looked back at Claire.

"Seriously, if you want to, normally marking is pretty hot but neither of us are in any shape for anything rough...."

Claire rolled her eyes and started to leave but stopped behind Carter, placing a hand on his shoulder, leaned over, and whispered as seductively as possible.

"Even if we were in better shape, I only break out the whips and chains for people I like."

With that she simply walked away leaving Carter sitting there by himself, injured hand laying open on the table.

"Well, damn..." Carter blinked, "I had you pegged for a pretty vanilla person."

"If only you knew the half of it." Claire called back, just disappearing into the hall, Carter barely catching a glimpse of her.

Carter shook his head, _She'll come around._

"Ouch." Carter looked down at his hand, rather annoyed that every time he closed it too tightly it hurt but was oddly unable to keep from messing around with it.

---

Rebecca watched Jill and not too long after, Claire enter the living room where she'd been trying to relax after helping take care of Leon's deep laceration in his hand, and Carter's stab wound which had gone clean through his own hand.

"How're you doing?" Claire asked.

"Fine." Rebecca smiled, "Just trying to calm down after that whole mess, you guys gave me some work to do too."

"Wouldn't want our group medic to get rusty." Claire chuckled sitting down next to her, "How's the tea?"

Rebecca pulled the cup from her lips and smiled, "Wonderful, thanks."

Claire nodded and turned her attention to the TV, disappointed that despite having a decent collection of movies before she'd become involved in this mess she hadn't been able to add to it much since then nor was she able to enjoy the ones she'd had.

After a moment of quite enjoyable silence and calm Claire realized Chris had been absent almost the entire time since they'd been back.

"Either of you seen Chris since we got back?"

Rebecca shook her head, finishing her tea, "No, actually..."

"He's been cooped up in the room I think." Jill added, "I never was able to get him to stop obsessing over his work like that. Always made him popular at work, though..."

"I would imagine." Claire stood up, "But he needs to break the habit."

Just as she headed back into the hall Carter passed her heading into the living room.

"Gonna go out to a bar, don't wait up."

"I'm coming!" Annie shot up from her seat in the room she'd stayed in and showed up in seconds.

Carter chuckled not bothering to point out what was wrong with that particular exclamation, "Alright, I thought you hated me, but okay."

"I do, but I need a drink, and don't want to put up with your brother."

"I head that!"

"Don't care!"

"...What's he doing anyway?" Carter asked, honestly not having a clue.

"I don't know, jerking off probably."

Carter shrugged and turned for the door, eager to go out for a drink, Annie pondered how Billy and Sherry might be doing at the moment, she hadn't talked to either of them since she left and in a weird sort of way didn't want to, not until it was all over with so she simply followed Carter out of the house. Or would have, if Rebecca hadn't stopped them to ask Carter about his hand.

"Just your luck, both you and Leon have some pretty nasty wounds." Rebecca shook her head, "Whatever that was that got us tore right through both of your hands."

Carter shrugged, letting Rebecca look over his hand, she seemed rather intent to make sure that he was okay and had already made it clear to be careful though he was surprised she didn't say anything again.

"It didn't hit anything important, you can stop worrying."

Rebecca shook her head, "S'my style, besides it didn't sound like it didn't hit anything earlier."

"You try getting stabbed in the hand."

"My point exactly."

Carter shook his head, "I'm not going to win am I?"

Rebecca smiled, "Not likely."

Claire sighed but began walking to the other end of the house again instead of trying to stop either of them, they would be fine in all likeliness, and if anything happened they could take care of themselves. She especially took comfort in the thought that Carter would probably shoot first and ask questions later - he always seemed like the type.

"Chris is in the room." Atticus told her through is open door as she passed, though she couldn't see what he was doing.

"Thanks."

Atticus shrugged without Claire noticing, she hadn't looked inside the room as she pushed open the door and found Chris just as she knew she would, just sitting there contemplating everything that'd occured.

"Chris, you should come out."

"Not now." Chris sighed, "Who was she? Why didn't we know about her? How the hell could we not notice her there? It was pure luck that Annie had even noticed something was wrong."

"We can figure that out later, you need to get your head on straight like everyone else, we all had a rough day."

Chris shook his head dismissively, "Not now Claire. I need to think."

"Well, get out there soon, alright? Don't run yourself into the ground."

Chris stopped for a second and smiled warmly, "Alright. Be out in a minute."

Claire nodded and turned back for the living room content with knowing that he wasn't going to completely obsess over his work, or so he said. Leon had exited the bath room by the time Claire had returned and joined Rebecca and Jill in the living room looking just as surprisingly worn out and beat up as the rest of the group.

"Healing up alright?"

Leon nodded, "Doing alright."

"You guys going out?" She looked at Carter and Annie.

Carter shrugged, "Don't see any reason not to."

"You're going to mess up your hand." Rebecca reminded him, "You should avoid using it as much as possible, and don't put too much pressure on it."

"And if Umbrella was planning on attacking us before they probably are now. For all we know that crazy red head is sitting out front waiting for us to try and leave." Jill spoke up for what seemed like the first time, still oddly quiet compared to what everyone knew as her usual self, "It's really not a good idea unless you have to."

"You ruin everything." Annie sighed, "We're just going out for drinks, let us have our fun."

"Freud says that in the absense of your brother you're attaching yourself to Carter." Atticus yawned, standing half in the hall and half in the room.

Annie glared at him, "No one asked you. I'll never ask you. I just plain don't like you."

"And I've done nothing but show you the greatest of kindness."

Atticus lit a cigarette and shrugged, "And got you smoking again, big deal."

"We really need to keep you three apart." Jill butted in, "Me and Rebecca were just having a pleasant moment to ourselves."

Atticus just shrugged and took a drag from his cigarette, looking rather contemplative as he did so. Jill wondered what it was about him that gave him that quality or if it was just something about the moment, something like that. She couldn't come up with anything so she just let the thought go.

Everyone just sat - or stood - there for a long moment in complete silence, all left to their own thoughts for a moment.

"You guys should stay." Rebecca looked up at Carter and Annie, "It's really not a good idea to go out."

Carter shrugged, "Can't be anymore dangerous than storming into an Umbrella complex. Not much could compare to that let alone be more dangerous."

Chris picked that particular moment to show up and join everyone else in the living room completing the small group. Everyone focused their attention on him though Chris seemed to ignore all of them or at the very least failed to notice that everyone was waiting for him to do something. Finally, he spoke.

"You guys really shouldn't leave and definitely shouldn't go to a bar of all places. Things are probably going to get really crazy now..."

"Because holing up here is stopping them from killing us all."

Chris shot him a look but didn't bother retorting, "We should probably let Barry know..."

"Where is he anyway?" Atticus asked, "Shouldn't he be here?"

Chris shook his head, "He's out. I still want to let him know what's going on, he'll need to know, they'll probably go for him too."

"You do that. Might as well get a hold of Jill's fling from Raccoon, too."

Jill sighed, "Look, just quit causing problems, don't leave, find some way to entertain yourself. Like sitting around arguing with each other or whatever you've been doing this whole time. And if you haven't noticed Carlos disappeared without a trace."

"Fuck you too."

"So we're just gonna sit here then? Hole up and wait to die?" Annie blinked.

"No," Chris answered, "We're trying to figure out what to do next. We don't exactly have much to go on."

"Well then we can't exactly [i]_do_[/i] anything." Annie sighed and sat down, plucking her cigarette from her mouth, "Unless you wanna run back in there and run into whatever the hell that thing was."

Chris nodded, "So we have to start from scratch. Figure out what's going on. This whole thing started when Umbrella started messing with us again."

"And we only have so long before they try something again." Jill put in, "Which leaves us here."

Leon nodded, pausing to think, "Why didn't they just kill us? They could've."

"Who knows." Atticus shrugged, "I'm just waiting for a molotv to come flying through the window and crack Leon upside the head..... what? That's what you get for sitting by the window."

"We really shouldn't have brought you guys into this."

"Aw, I feel loved."

Leon sighed, "Why wouldn't you have been [i]_normal_[/] productive, less annoying members of society?"

"Because then we wouldn't be the loveable nasty little bastards we are now." Carter chuckled, "And that's no fun."

"Of course not, this is just too much fun, I wouldn't give it up for the world."

"I don't think you could anyway, the man who sold the world gave it to a greedy bastard."

Annie laughed, "And even if he did let you have it it'd come at a high price."

"Very high."

Annie paused for a second before deciding that it was about time she left.

"Alright, I'm outta here. Figure out what we're doing on your own, not like I wanted anything to do with this mess." Annie got up and took a drag from her cigarette as she put on her head phones.

Leon blinked, watched Annie walk out of the room, then turned his attention back to everyone else. Carter shrugged and got up following Annie out of the room, contemplating bothering her.

"So..." Atticus looked around, "You guys seem to have everything under control. Imma go bother Annie."

With that he got up and left the living room following both Annie and Carter into the hallway. And began poking Annie. In the back. Leon took that opportunity to look around the room, hoping someone would have some kind of explanation for [i]_why_[/i] exactly they were relying on Annie and the Kingstons, not holding out hope for anyone knowing why they were the way they were – he knew that was impossible to know.

Chris sighed as he went back to trying to figure things out, not saying a word, he didn't have anything to say just yet.

"I'm going to call Barry." Claire announced.

Jill shook her head, "I'll get it."

Claire shrugged and sat back down as Jill got up, heading into the kitchen to call Barry and let him know all about their current predicament – and the possibility of having some unwanted guests show up at obscene hours of the day. Jill told herself that that was assuming they weren't bold enough to do it any other time, or have someone do it for them. She ignored the thought and picked up the phone dialing quickly.

Claire sighed, "So... I guess we should get ready in case something happens."

Chris nodded, "That'd probably be our best bet for a first move. Keeping someone on guard duty again is probably a good idea too."

"Guess we're drawing straws for guard duty." Leon said absent mindedly.

Chris nodded and Rebecca announed her intention to take stock of all of the medical supplies she had even though she already knew what they had and what they didn't. Leon on the other hand saw it fit to redistribute the weapons they had, everyone still had their handguns but now it was time to take everything else from the basement and make access to it easier.

Rebecca reminded herself of all of the things they'd used already, mostly antiseptic and bandages as none of the cuts had been too severe, some deep ones but nothing extremely harmful.

_And some sutures for Carter and Leon._ She reminded herself, having taking care of the wounds they'd both suffered herself, _Wonder how those are doing… and what they would say if they knew it's been a while since I've sutured anything…_

While Leon and Rebecca went about their business Chris and Claire set about planning their next move other than preparing themselves even more for whatever possible move Umbrella might make. Chris also busied himself trying to figure who or what they might've run into earlier but to no avail, he'd never seen her, never heard anything about anyone or anything like her – someone new – new to him anyway.

"She might be like Krauser... it's not unlikely."

"Not at all." Claire agreed reluctantly, "

-

At the bar Annie, Atticus and Carter had all managed to entertain themselves with exchanging stories, insults, and generally just unwinding, Atticus completely ignoring the notion of staying sober. As far as he was concerned it'd been far too long since he'd had a drink and everyone in the legal system and Alcoholics Anonymous could go perform various explicit acts with themself as far as he was concerned

"Those guys couldn't hit shit." Atticus chuckled, "Not even from less than five feet away they missed."

Annie shook her head, shot glass in hand, "You know, you shoulda bayoneted him. Really, it's the only way to do things. That would've been cool. 'No, fuck you, you don't get to kill me here's a bayonet'. Bonus points if you threw your rifle as you were falling and speared his ass."

Atticus laughed, "What I wouldn't give to go back and do it all over again if I could just do that. But I'm still surprised how horrible their aim was, I still can't get over it. Just my luck that he misses but manages to blind me."

Carter was too busy laughing to say anything, his face burried in the bar. Finally he looked up still laughing and tried to calm himself.

"EPIC."

Annie nodded sagely before downing her drink and ordering another right away. They all began drinking in silence except for a few quick exchanges, now just trying to drown themselves in as much cheap eighty proof vodka they could afford. It was the only cure any of them could think of for keeping their minds off of things and enjoying themselves all at the same time even if it proved not to be the cheapest method.

Glass after glass they kept slapping wads of cash on the bar and drinks kept sliding down to them as long as they could keep the cycle going, until they ran out of money which would be very soon at the rate they were going.

"You know you two are a lot more fun than I expected, especiallly drunk.... everyone else just pisses me off."

"Weird." Atticus admitted, "Guess bourbon cures all social problems."

Annie nodded, "It's a proven scientific fact, ya know."

"Really?" Carter blinked.

"It really is, if you want to know the truth." Atticus agreed.

"And here I always thought it was just so you could.... I never thought about it actually."

"Of course not." Atticus slapped him upside the head, "You don't have anything in there."

"I could've told you that." Annie laughed, "And I've known him for all of a day."

Atticus ignored her instead raising his glass to his lips downing it all in one go, feeling surprisingly good despite being drunk, the next morning was a different story but he wasn't going to worry about that just yet - or at all.

Annie herself didn't bother taking notice of Atticus just as he'd ignored her and instead amused herself with continued drinking, some how feeling rather satisfied now having heard the entire story behind Atticus' injury.

"I like this place to tell you the truth." Atticus said admittantly, sitting straight up in his seat, "It's a real nice place, I don't remember it being here before.... or at least coming here..."

"I told you I could find a good place."

"So you did." Atticus agreed, downing a glass of Johnnie Walker.

Annie nodded, downed her last bit of whiskey and looked around.

"Well boys, looks like I'm gonna find me someone..." She grinned and took another look around, "Eenie meenie miney moe..."

"Such rigid regulations, such high standards."

"Screw you, Blondie, this isn't exactly for a meaningful relationship. You may not be familiar with it but it's called a one night stand."

"Leon won't like that."

"Oh please, he can wait. I'm still single. Not like he.... well, he probably hasn't been with anyone."

"I think he had a fling a little while ago." Atticus interrupted, "Not really sure."

Annie shrugged and lit a cigarette, all done with her drinks. It didn't really matter, she was a grown woman, she had every right anyone else had to go looking for casual sex and if he could go running around picking up random women, she sure as hell could do the same.

[i]_What was her name again? Angel? Angelica? Angelina? No, no.... whatever, fuck it. If he can run around man whoring I can enjoy a few good old one nighters._[/i]

"Well, you gonna run off?" Carter asked, "Or you wanna see who can drink more?"

"Sorry boys." Annie downed her drink, "This girl is gonna have some fun tonight."

Annie grinned, walking off across the room. Carter simply turned back towards the bar and ordered another drink.

-

"You hungry?" Atticus yawned lightly looking at Carter.

Carter shrugged, "Nah, not really. You?"

"Kinda." Atticus admitted, "Thinking about getting out of here, been here a while. Need to see some sights."

"I know what ya mean." Carter nodded.

Atticus nodded, fishing a pack of cigarettes out of his pocket along with his Zippo. He opened it with a practiced flick of his wrist and ran his thumb over the sparking wheel before bringing the flame to the tip of his cigarette, inhaling deeply. After a moment he removed the cigarette from his mouth looking back at Carter.

"This is a nice place, I don't remember it, we'll have to come here whenever we can."

Carter nodded, "Think it's new. Ready to head out?"

"Yeah, let's go."

Atticus had snapped his lighter shut and put it back in his pocket along side his cigarettes and got up, waiting for Carter before they both went for the door.

Annie watched them from across the room, sitting with her new aquaintance but not waiting to see them make it out of the door before turning her attention back to her new friend, not really caring where they went she'd had her fun and whatever they didn't had nothing to do with her now. She hardly noticed anything he said, but all she knew was that she was suddenly on her feet and they were on their way to the door.

[i]_Should make the night interesting...[/i]_

Annie slipped out the door with her companion in tow just in time to see the Kingstons getting into the car - his car it was.

[i]_Wait, how'd they get my keys? God damn it, Carter's a friggin' kleptomaniac.[/i]_

Immediately after finishing that particular thought Annie's phone rang, forcing her to step away from her companion for the night for a moment.

"Hello?"

"Everyone's back, you guys need to come back for the night."

Annie sighed, "Why? You miss me?"

Annie surprised herself by managing coherent thoughts and sentences, and couldn't help but grin when she realized her usual wit was still there.

"Depends, will you come back if I do?"

Annie paused, "Maybe. Would you want me back after running off?"

"No reason not to, wouldn't be the first time it's happened."

Annie rolled her eyes, "Yeah, alright, I'll be there now if you'll excuse me I have to keep the retards from ruining my car."

She hung up and didn't bother with explaining anything to her would be fling - it was only going to be for the night, anyway, he wouldn't be calling her the next morning to complain. She'd be too putting up with Leon dealing with the Kingstons and nursing a massive hang over to care even if he did.

"Hey." Annie tapped on the driver's side window, "Outta my friggin' car."

"No." Carter shook his head, "I don't think so."

"You don't think, don't lie."

Carter shrugged and started the car waiting for Annie to get in the back and messing with the radio causing her to mutter more than a few profanity laden utterances. He looked at Atticus for a second as he lit a cigarette and turned around in time for Annie to pull him out of the now open car door.

"You should know by now you're place is in the back."

"Should I even point out what's wrong with that sentence?." Carter muttered, opening the back door.

Annie rolled her eyes and got into her car, "Everyone's back at the house... Rookie said to go back."

"And you listened? Guess he really is the man in the relationship." Atticus chuckled.

"Fuck you. And don't say he wouldn't like that. I don't care." Annie jerked the wheel to the side as she pulled out onto the street, "He's as thick as a fucking tree trunk, I doubt he'd even notice."

Atticus shrugged and leaned against the window content with knowing he'd bothered Annie. Carter amused himself with thinking of various ways to see if Leon really was as thick as Annie claimed then reminded himself that he really was. He'd actually trusted Atticus not to or at least hoped he wouldn't start drinking as soon as he got the chance.

"Seriously, what's with that tattoo of yours? Drunk tattoo? I mean who gets a tattoo of a _dog_ on their arm?"

"Norse god."

"Right, a really big dog that got chained up blah blah blah. Lemme see again."

Carter stuck his arm forward between Annie and Atticus allowing Annie to promptly slap his injured hand and begin laughing maniacally.

"Bitch."

Annie shrugged and jerked the steering wheel sharply to the right not paying a bit of attention to Atticus, Carter, or traffic laws. She never seemed to pay attention to any of those things as both Atticus and Carter had noticed.

"You know it's illegal to carry when you're drunk." She reminded them, just realizing that they probably had their guns on them.

"Hypocite." Carter mumured using the exact same logic she had.

Annie shrugged and turned again still heading for Claire's house which they would reach in roughly a few minutes.

-

"So what now?" Annie yawned, only now beginning to regain he ability to think clearly.

"We wait." Leon shrugged, "And tomorow we'll get back to things."

Annie sighed heavily and tugged at the ends of her sleeves, now wearing a large, loose hoodie over her shirt. Leon had been stuck on guard duty and as acting guard was tasked with the ever exciting job of sitting around with a shotgun. Annie had just shown up randomly, apparently unable to sleep, even considering how heavily she'd drank earlier, or so she told him.

Going by his reaction he really did believe that too and something about that disappointed Annie no matter how much she tried to remind herself that he was _completely_ clueless.

_[i]You're thinking like a school girl now, Annie. Nice. Though he probably really doesn't realize anything... dunno what he thinks though. Damn it.[/i]_

"I'm...." Annie stood up, "Going to go bother the Kingstons or something. Not much to do."

"Sleep is generally the preferred activity at hours like this."

"Oh, you're really becoming witty. Gonna make for some _great_ foreplay..."

Leon rolled his eyes, sighing, "Go get some sleep."

"As soon as I find out how the hell they got my keys I might be able to..." Annie sighed before going back to her room.


End file.
